i feel like i'm being ripped off too. do you guys think that the more expensive dry-cleaners do a better job?? there's a place near my bf's place that charges $1.75 for a shirt, but the storefront looks kinda dirty and old. i can't bring myself to bring my nice clothes there.

^^^
I hate hate hate hate to be snotty about dry-cleaners, especially because most of them seem to be mom-and-pop shops -- and I am all about supporting local businesses.

I'll just put it this way. It's not that the expensive ones are necessarily better. But I would look for a dry-cleaners in a ritzy area that is used to treating delicate fabrics and expensive clothes. Sometimes the cheaper, dingy dry-cleaners are just fine for, say, J.Crew slacks... but I would not bring my Yves Saint Laurent dress there.

The dry-cleaner I go to is very average. I take my really nice clothes to an expensive cleaners in Gold Coast (Chicago's ritziest neighborhood).

My local cleaners charge about $10 for dresses and suits, tops/pants/skirts are about $5 each, coats are about $15 IIRC. However, when I have a lot of dresses to send in, I use Flat Rate Cleaners (website is their name) and they charge $5/piece for any item of clothing, even coats, with free pickup/delivery. Believe they are NYC area only but they are pretty cheap and efficient. Not sure I'd trust them with really really nice stuff but for the regular stuff it's a good deal